"With the advent of the Internet, we gained access to vast troves of information, entertainment, products, and ideas. With social networking sites (SNS), we were invited to share the intimate details of our daily lives widely with family, friends, acquaintances— and the giant tech corporations providing services. In this, it has become clear that our online interactions come with a tradeoff— a “devil’s bargain” as media theorist Douglas Rushkoff describes (2018)— where our data is collected and served up to the highest bidder. Our information is not only being used for targeted marketing, but also being analyzed to predict and manipulate our behaviors—to anticipate our likes and fears. The news that Cambridge Analytica helped itself to the Facebook data of 50 million users in order to impact our democratic elections is harrowing (Freedland, 2018). Likewise, Richard Stengel (2019) explains that “just as Nike buys your information to sell you sneakers, the Russians bought your information to persuade you that America is a mess." In an age of data collection and personalization, what’s at stake?" (Redmond).

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In this assignment, I had the opportunity to examine the implications of our online interactions by tracking how the web tracks me. I engaged actively in an experiment to disrupt my algorithms by assuming a new persona or interest in a high profile and/or significant financial or life-changing endeavor and then reflected deeply on what I observed.